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Chapter 504: Stimulation and Computation
Chapter 504: Stimulation and Computation
What?
After hearing Lyon's thoughts, Felicia's once precise and fluid soul suddenly experienced a bizarre stutter, as if a pile of sand had been poured into a tightly meshed gear assembly, causing it to seize up almost entirely.
What does he mean...that a cute girl like you would cry for a long time if punched? I've been so polite to him, and I'm so adorable, and I've always shown respect. Why would he want to punch me?
What's his motivation for doing this?
What's the purpose behind those words?
Where's the logic in all this?
How should I respond?
How should humans react?
At that moment, twenty-three blocks away, in a subterranean structure buried deep within a lake, a deafening roar erupted as if ten thousand horses had suddenly stamped their hooves.
"What the...?!"
"What's going on?"
"Has Atephi 01 started computing?"
Sensing the abnormal operation of the first Intelligent Machine, which seemed to be performing some incredibly challenging calculations, the humans in the underground facility, who had been diligently carrying out their respective tasks, suddenly became alert. Like an army of ants, they rushed towards the main console in the central hall.
Behind the massive glass wall of the main hall, a super-giant machine, strangely encased in a gelatinous substance and submerged in the lake, was operating at a terrifyingly high speed.
Within the enormous machine, which stood over fifteen meters tall and occupied an area nearly the size of two football fields, countless hair-thin metal rods were rapidly pushing, following the sixteen grooves cut into them, like a garlic press. This motion drove billions of tiny gears to spin incessantly.
These minuscule gears, no larger than a grain of rice, would momentarily pause every sixty-fourth of a second, invisible to the naked eye. During these pauses, the precision gears would briefly disengage from their slots, touching the rear-facing data recording dot matrix and leaving behind rows of tiny dots finer than a needlepoint...
"What's happening here?!"
As the scholars rushed in, they saw that nearly one-fifth of the giant machine had been activated. They immediately surrounded the main console, chastising the fifty-odd operators who looked utterly bewildered.
"Stop it immediately! Do you know how much energy is consumed in just one second of computation in this state?!"
"Who requested Atephi 01's computing privileges? Damn it, the storage wheels and dot matrix are being used up too quickly!"
"Speak up! What are you idiots doing?!"
"Silence!"
Grabbing the chair that had been knocked over beside him and banging it twice against the metal instrument panel, the middle-aged man with white hair on both temples and a half-clockwork watch embroidered on his collar, appeared to be of high status, shouted over the noise:
"Everyone, listen to me!"
"No one has requested Atephi's computing power today! The current calculation is self-initiated!"
Atephi initiated it herself?
Hearing this, the scholars exchanged glances, unable to remain silent. Instead, they erupted into an even more heated argument.
"Impossible! With Atephi's computing power, even if it's recording every fish in this lake, it wouldn't be this strenuous!"
"Yes, the last time we calculated travel data for 1.3 million people, the activation level was only a third of what it is now!"
"Is it that 'Determining the Fundamental Elements of the World' project again?"
"It shouldn't be. Didn't they say that under the current conditions, complete computation is impossible, and they only calculated sixty-something before stopping?"
"Shut up, all of you!"
The middle-aged man with white hair on both temples banged the metal instrument panel again, silencing the scholars. He then turned to Atephi 01 and asked what it was computing.
After a few seconds of delay, the machinery behind the glass wall, which had been frantically calculating, finally slowed down slightly. Immediately after, a sound emerged from the speaking tubes on both sides of the instrument panel, a human female's voice, synthesized from a dense series of taps, sounding like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old.
"Question: Why would a mentally healthy male human, for no reason, attack a cute, young female of the opposite sex and then attempt to calculate the exact duration of her crying?"
???
What the hell kind of question is this?
Hearing the lifelike, perplexed tone simulated by Atephi 01, the remaining scholars in front of the control panel couldn't help but look at each other in confusion.
Attacking a cute, young female for no reason and then listening to how long she cries... Isn't that a beastly act? Are you sure this thing is mentally sound?
"I might know the reason..."
Just as the scholars, with an average age of over forty, were collectively stumped by Atephi 01's question, a female scholar in her twenties, standing in the corner of the main hall, hesitantly raised her hand.
"I guess this is also a form of affection...right?"
Under the gaze of the big shots, the female scholar with the lowest-level scholar badge hanging on her chest blushed and said shyly:
"My sister just gave birth to a baby last year. When I saw the baby's rosy little face, I couldn't help but want to pinch it secretly... I think this might be the reason..."
A form of affection?
After hearing the young female scholar's guess, the other scholars in the main hall recalled their own experiences and immediately showed expressions of sudden realization.
Indeed, they seemed to have done similar things. When they saw especially cute children, they couldn't help but have a strange urge to tease and bully them a little.
Upon noticing the scholars' agreeing expressions, Atephi finally received an answer and stopped her frantic calculations. The massive machinery behind the glass wall also quieted down.
Immediately after, twenty-three blocks away, Princess Felicia, who had been standing by the roadside for a long time, lifted her delicate, jade-carved face, wrinkled her nose slightly at Lyon, and smiled shyly.
"Thank you for your affection, but please refrain from doing that in the future."
"???"
I'm going to hit you, and you're thanking me? And you're embarrassed?
Seeing that Felicia had regained her original precise mechanical sense after a brief moment of chaos, losing the "human touch" in her soul once again, Lyon couldn't help but frown slightly, confirming his guess.
The royal family of the Corlock Kingdom had indeed been thoroughly controlled. That intelligence machine named Atephi 01 might have found a way to use anomalies to influence the souls of the royal family members.
At this thought, Lyon couldn't help but look at Princess Felicia with pity.
Such a good child, well-behaved, cute, and polite, but she was controlled by an anomaly. This was definitely a situation where he needed to help, but how...
Recalling how Felicia's soul had finally lost its precise mechanical sense and started to wander like a normal human after his deliberate provocation, Lyon's eyes flashed with a glimmer of understanding.
She needed to be stimulated! She needed to be stimulated intensely!
(End of Chapter)
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